Finding Your Audience on Social Media

• Feb 01, 2021
• Architechs for the Web
• General Info

Not knowing how to target the right audience using social media channels is one of the most common and costly mistakes businesses make in marketing. Imagine, you have set aside several hours for organic posts or thousands of dollars per month for a PPC ad campaign that yields very little in return because your content is being sent to the wrong individuals. The solution? Check out these tips for the top social media channels that will help you reach the right audience every time!

Does it Matter Which Channel I Use for My Campaign?
We all know the top social media channels by name, but do you know how they are different? Before you can begin to create a marketing plan, it is critical to learn why your audience is on the social media channel of choice. To do that, you'll need to know how that channel differs from the competition. 

• Facebook - Individuals will primarily sign up to use this channel for communicating with friends, family members, and groups with common interests such as schools. However, they also can shop for items on Facebook Marketplace or use this platform for searching topics as they would in search engines like Google or Bing. Facebook is popular amongst adults of all ages and both male and female genders who live in urban, suburban, and rural areas alike. Such stats plus the ability to boast the largest number of active users make it many marketers' first choice for social media marketing campaigns.
  
  
• Instagram & Tik Tok - Those wishing to connect more through images and videos will gravitate towards Instagram and Tik Tok. These channels generally attract a younger crowd than Facebook with the majority falling under 34 years of age. If your business is centered on products and services for young children, teens, and young families, these are two of the top platforms to consider for your campaign(s).
  
  
• Pinterest - Looking for where the moms are hanging out these days? You will find many on Pinterest where 80% of users are moms who are searching to find inspiring recipes, fashion, decorating tips, and more!
  
  
• Twitter - The majority of Twitter will be adults ages 18 to 50. Twitter lets celebrities and companies stay connected with a global audience with short news highlights and comments. 
  
  
• LinkedIn - If you are targeting professionals for your services, hoping to network for more contacts, or looking to recruit a few employees for your company, LinkedIn is the platform to use! In fact, many companies ask for a LinkedIn profile to be included with a resume for employment consideration.

How Do I Determine the Right Demographics for My Business?
Now that you have chosen the channel(s) that best fits with your business objectives, you can start analyzing your audience because you want your members to be separated from the remaining 2.7 billion people actively using Facebook alone! You may already have an idea of your audience's age-range, gender, and location from your sales and industry. However, your key demographics can vary from that of your competitors'. Get to know more about who visits your website and engages in your social media postings and ads by reviewing the past six months of data found in your "Analytics" or "Insights" reporting tools.

Factor in Spending and Browsing Interests
Age, gender, and location are extremely important, but you will need to gather more information to craft an effective marketing strategy. For example, if you own a toy store, your audience could be married or single and is likely also searching for SUVs or minivans, children's clothing, back-to-school items, family vacations, top schools in the area, and family recipes. Try to think of your audience as an individual. What does his or her life look like day-to-day? Which events does he or she attend? Beyond your products and services, what else is he or she buying and why?

B2B companies like a toy wholesaler should also make a list of competitive advantages and differences as well as build a typical buyer profile, interests, and buyer's title. Are you trying to reach the business owner or the business manager? Is there an inventory manager or purchasing agent? What other inventory or supplies might they be searching for online? In other words, you want to be specific about who would most likely click on, like, or share your post or ad campaign.

Wait, There's More!
Another great piece of information your analytics can provide is the optimum performance times of the week for your current site or page visitors. This is especially helpful for PPC ad campaigns because you know most of your audience is online and ready to receive the promoted content. You may think this is only useful for engaging your current patrons. However, the idea here is you want to find your "look-alike" audience or those with online shopping, conversation, and browsing histories that mirror those individuals already showing interest in your products and services.

Where can I Find Help Maximizing My Campaign(s)?
Keep in mind, finding your audience may take a few campaign attempts to perfect. Hiring a professional marketing company, like Architechs for the Web, can dramatically increase your chances of yielding a higher conversion rate. This is because the pros closely monitor your campaign to watch for dips and spikes in the engagement as well as use proven techniqes to attract more attention such as analzying your website referral feed and add eye-catching professional images, unique and powerful content hooks, optimized keywords, and a clear call-to-action (CTA). Learn more about how your campaign can benefit from working with the right marketing team with our "How to Grow Your Business With Managed Social Media Services". Then, use this contact form to get a free no-obligation quote and discover how affordable it is to work with everyone's favorite social media professionals!